Washington State
House of Representatives
Office of Program Research
BILL
ANALYSIS
College & Workforce Development Committee
HB 1119
Brief Description: Notifying students of courses with low-cost instructional materials and open educational resources at the four-year institutions of higher education.
Sponsors: Representatives Jacobsen, Simmons, Young, Graham, Pollet, Leavitt, Dolan and Rule.
Brief Summary of Bill
  • Requires the public four-year institutions of higher education to designate whether course materials are "low-cost" in their online course descriptions. 
Hearing Date:
Staff: Megan Mulvihill (786-7304).
Background:

Affiliated Bookstores.
Bookstores affiliated with public higher education institutes have certain requirements relating to the sale of course materials.  Affiliated bookstores must sell unbundled books, disclose the cost of materials to faculty and staff, disclose how new editions vary from previous editions, and promote book buy-back programs.  With some exceptions, students must be provided with information on required course materials, including title, authors, edition, price, and the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) four weeks before the start of the class. 
Faculty and staff must take into account cost when assigning course materials, such as adopting the least expensive edition, using free or open textbooks when available, or working with librarians to use free online and library resources.


Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials that are freely available to students, educators, and the general public.  The OER are openly licensed so others may adopt or reuse material for their own purpose.  These resources may be retained, reused, revised, remixed, and redistributed.  Many OER use licenses to indicate how the resource may be used.  Creative commons licenses allow the author to choose how the resource should be cited, adapted, redistributed, and whether it may be used for commercial purposes.


Community and Technical College Course Material Notifications
In 2017 the community and technical colleges were required to provide students with information during registration about required course materials' costs and whether a course uses OER.  The information could be provided by displaying it in the online course description or by providing a link to the bookstore's website.  In 2020 the community and technical colleges were also required to identify whether a course uses low-cost instructional materials.  Low-cost means all required materials equal $50 or less. 

Summary of Bill:

The public four-year institutions of higher education (institutions) must designate in their online course descriptions, which students use to register for courses, whether a course uses the OER or low-cost required instructional materials.  A course uses low-cost instructional materials if the entire cost of the required materials equals $50 or less.  The institutions may designate whether the course uses low-cost materials or OER at a later date than registration if, at the time of registration, the faculty member has not yet been assigned to the course.

Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Requested on January 11, 2021.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.